February
In February we finally went on our long anticipated Honeymoon. We flew via Istanbul to the Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania and from there we set off to our Serangeti and Ngoro-ngoro Crater Safari. It was an incredible experience: sleeping in the wilderness, discovering all the exciting animals and just being overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty of the Serangeti.
A week later we took a flight to Kigali, Rwanda where we met up with Marita’s sister Eva. We travelled around the country with the highlights being Gorilla Trekking in Mountains bordering Congo and visiting Ubaka U Rwanda – the charity Marita has been working with for the last 6 years.
March
Dave went to a conference in Las Vegas, and flew via Los Angeles, to spend some to with his brother there – foolishly he didn’t take any photos there though.
April
On our next adventure we set of to Rekjavic, Iceland, for a short weekend break. We can both honestly say that we have never been so cold in all of our lives! But seeing the hot geysers, icy waterfalls and relaxing in one of the thermal baths totally made up for the windchill!
May
May we had a short break in Carbis Bay in Cornwall, where David’s father Roger and his wife decided to set up home. Although the rain was terrential we really enjoyed walking around the cafes, having cream tea and visiting the numous art galleries that are scattered around St. Ives.
June
June was a big month for David’s family as his big sister Debra gave birth to a beautiful baby girl called Evie. This meant we are both uncle and auntie now!
July
Dave starts a new job in the National Physical Laboratory, in Teddington, Southwest London. It is the same as the previous job with the Institute of Cancer Research, but a more senior and permanent position.
August
The big move in August changed the everything for us this year. We decided to let out our flat in east London and move to Sunbury on Thames which is on the other side of London (actually strickly speaking its in Surrey, near Heathrow). We moved from a modern new build flat to a 1960s house that had to be completley renovated.
September
After a slow start our renovations were gaining momentum. The house needed a new boiler, a new bathroom, a new kitchen … new-almost-everthing was needed! And once we started we learnt that living in a delapitated house was better than living in a building site!
November
With the renovations now in full swing, and still no sight of a central heating, a fully working bathroom or a kitchen which consists of more than a microwave, we decided we needed a break from the renovations.
Dave flew to a conference in Istanbul for work for a few days, while Marita met her sisters, brother and parents on Ohahu, Hawaii where her cousin was getting married. After a great week sunbathing, snorkling and beach walks unfortunatley Marita had to get back to painting our cold house. In November Marita started a new job in e-commerce around the corner from where Dave works!
December
December has been an important month for us as we finally almost about the started living, rather than merely surviving in our new house. With central heating finally arriving on the first of December, the new flooring going down and the doors being installed we were finlly able to move into the bedrooms.
Nevertheless we decided to spend Christmas in a more civilised environment (ha!)- in Marita’s parents home in Schwalbach.
That’s it for this year’s post. It has been another busy year, full of change – the two main ones being change of jobs and house – and, of course, travel. Next year we hope to have more time to see our friends and family, and have another packed newsletter!